Kelly Taylor

You could scarcely be more Canadian than comedian Kelly Taylor. "I grew up on (SCTV's) Bob & Doug (McKenzie)," he says. "There's probably no movie I've watched more than Strange Brew. We watched that every weekend." Another early influence was fellow Canuck comic Norm McDonald. "They used have comedy every Sunday night on our local radio station in Saskatchewan. They used to play little bits, and they had this one I remember, I recorded it on a cassette, it was Norm McDonald talking about being in a car. I remember thinking, 'Wow, that's awesome.'" It was at the end of college that Taylor decided he should finally try standup comedy, lest he wind up having to get a real job. Taylor was looking for a gig when his mom told him that the local bank needed a comedian to entertain at the annual Christmas party. "When you first do comedy, you do an amateur night and do maybe five minutes. I never knew that was the way you started in comedy." He asked how long of a set they wanted, and the answer was "about an hour." So that's what Taylor did for his first go at standup. "It went pretty good. Then after that I started the way you're supposed to. I got up on stage and did five minutes or whatever." 18+; 21+ later shows.
July 28-Aug. 1, 8 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. Starts: July 28. Continues through Aug. 1, 2010